Case shifted to Delhi Police Crime Branch after autopsy report
Three days after the death of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, who fought with his father Narain Dutt Tiwari, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to be accepted as his son, the autopsy report on late night of Thursday revealed that his death was “unnatural”.
Police sources said Rohit was most probably strangulated and smothering with a pillow. “Following the postmortem at AIIMS conducted by a medical board comprising five senior doctors, police on Thursday registered a case of murder and transferred it to the Crime Branch for investigation, a senior officer said.
“The medical board unanimously concluded that the cause of death in this case is asphyxia as a result of strangulation and smothering. It is a sudden unnatural death, placed in the category of homicide,” said Dr Sudhir Gupta, the head of the AIIMS forensic department.
Crime Branch officials on Friday visited Rohit’s house in Defence Colony and questioned his family members and domestic helps. His wife Apoorva is currently not in Delhi. A forensics team too visited the house.
Police sources said there are seven CCTV cameras — of which two don’t work — in Rohit’s house. “Rohit had gone to Uttarakhand to vote on April 12 and returned on the night of April 15. He could be seen on CCTV taking support of the wall while walking in an inebriated state,” police said.
Police sources said they are scanning call records of Rohit, his wife, relatives and a few others who were in regular touch with him. “They are also trying to reconstruct last seven days of his life and the person whom he met just before breathing his last. Apart from probing property related issues, police are also looking for conspiracy angle to ascertain who wanted to eliminate Rohit,” said official.
An official privy to investigation said the fact behind the murder will emerge once investigation is completed
According to Vijay Kumar, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South district, Rohit’s mother Ujjwala Tiwari was in Max Hospital for her treatment when she received a phone call from home that he was unwell and bleeding from the nose. “An ambulance call was made to the hospital. Ujjwala reached her residence, along with the ambulance that brought Rohit to hospital,” said the DCP.
An official statement from Max Healthcare said, “Max Hospital received an emergency call from the residence of Rohit at 4.41 pm. An ambulance brought Rohit to Max, where he was declared brought dead at the hospital emergency.”
Rohit joined the BJP ahead of the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly polls and recently indicated that he could join the Congress. In 2012, ND Tiwari, who had quit as Andhra Pradesh Governor after a purported video of his sexual escapade was leaked, was forced to give samples of his DNA for a paternity test after warnings by the Delhi High Court.
In 2014, Tiwari finally accepted Rohit as his son, putting an end to a prolonged legal battle on the issue.
